Japan will start releasing around 8.5mn kilolitres, or 53mn bl, of its national crude oil reserves on 26 March, as part of a planned release totalling around 80mn bl, including privately held oil reserves.
Tokyo will start releasing the one-month equivalent amount of national crude oil reserves on 26 March, Japan's trade and industry minister Ryosei Akazawa said on 24 March.
Stocked crude oil will be released from 11 stockpiling bases, including tanks owned by the private sector, throughout the country (see below). Domestic refiners Eneos, Idemitsu, Cosmo Oil and Taiyo Oil will each receive requirements equivalent to nearly one month.
Total sales prices will amount to around ¥540bn ($3.4bn), set in reference to the February official sales prices for each grade. Meti has not disclosed which grades are included in the release. The crude oil to be released are mostly Middle Eastern grades, but also include those from other regions.
The first release will be conducted through pipelines at Kikuma national petroleum stockpiling base, next to domestic refiner Taiyo Oil's Shikoku refinery in western Japan, on 26 March. The Shikoku refinery has two crude distillation units (CDUs) with capacities of 106,000 b/d and 32,000 b/d.
Tokyo will start releasing crude from stockpiling bases to tankers on 27 March, with most of the planned amount to be released during March and April, Meti said. But some reserves will be released in May or June mainly because of logistical necessities, Meti added.
Meanwhile, around 1.4mn kilolitres of crude oil, or 8.8mn bl, will also be released from the joint stockpiles with oil-producing countries, including Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Kuwait, to Japanese refiners later in March, Meti said. This is not included in the IEA's oil release allocations, Meti said. It will be in addition to Japan's already announced plans of around 80mn bl, the ministry said. The amount is equivalent to 5 days of requirements for Japanese refiners.
Japan has already lowered its oil stockpile mandate for domestic refiners, from 70 days' equivalent to 55 days until 15 April. This has allowed them to use oil reserve amounts equivalent to 15 days of requirements, including crude and refined products.
Japan's oil reserves are equivalent to 240 days of requirements, according to preliminary data from Meti. This includes equivalent amounts of 146 days at national reserves, 88 days at privately held reserves and 6 days at joint stockpiles with oil-producing countries.
Japan's national oil reserves will be released from stockpiling bases below:
- Tomakomai-Tobu National Petroleum Stockpiling Base
- Kikuma National Petroleum Stockpiling Base
- Shirashima National Petroleum Stockpiling Base
- Kamigoto National Petroleum Stockpiling Base
- Shibushi National Petroleum Stockpiling Base
- Hokkaido base - Hokkaido Joint Oil Stockpiling
- Kashima Crude Oil Tank Yard - Kashima Oil
- Nakasode Crude Storage Base - Fuji Oil
- Kiire Termnial - Eneos
- Okinawa base - Okinawa CTS
- Okinawa Terminal Base - Okinawa Terminal
